Playing with Tradition
by Luna Rosa
Summary: Sometimes even the best traditions need a bit of finetuning. SBRL


**Playing with Tradition**

Author: Luna Rosa (f.k.a. lovegrrl)

Feedback: Harry Potter

Summary: Sometimes even the best traditions need a bit of fine-tuning.

Series/Sequel: This can be read as a one but also fits into my "Full Moon" series and comes a month or so after the end of "Long Nights Moon and Restless Minds". This is the summer after seventh year.

Archive: Sirius Black and Remus Lupin Yahoo group, Azkaban Lair. Anywhere else; just ask.

Spoilers: Don't think so... unless you count the fact that Lily & James had a bit of pre-nuptial nookie (naughty hetros!).

Warnings: Slash!

Rating: R, probably.

Originally posted: Sirius Black and Remus Lupin Yahoo group, the best site for puppy lovers, nearly a year ago. So if it seems familiar to you that's why.

Pairings: SB/RL, JP/LE (mentioned).

Dedications: To Maple Shy for making me laugh at how wonderful she is and how idiotic I am, to DeeDee because even best friends fight sometimes and to Shenn, whose house is in a bit better shape than this one.

Endless thanks also goes to my betas Abinikai, who's been there from the start, making me into a much better writer than I would have been and Rachel, who is no Johnny come lately. These two wonderful people keep me on my toes and slap me on the wrist for sloppiness in grammar and plot. (I'm a bit messy, me.)

Disclaimer: Unfortunately these characters do not belong to me. I am just practising my Imperius Curse on them (shhhhh...).

"There's nothing there, Sirius!" Remus said as he frowned at the map Sirius had pulled from his jacket pocket only moments before with the excited exclamation, "There's something I've got to show you, Moony."

Remus's eyes stared at the spot just to the right of Sirius's muddy fingernail (had he been digging in the garden again?). All he could make out in the huge splodge of green on the map was the thin blue line marking the meandering course of a river and the town of Hornsdean, a good 10 miles south of where Sirius had pointed, the only visible sign of normal life.

"There _is_ something there," Sirius explained, "I've just made it Unplottable."

"Unplottable?" Remus asked in surprise looking up from the map.

"Yeah, well," Sirius mumbled, not making eye contact with Remus. "I thought, nowadays, y'know, can't really be too careful."

"You did it on your own?" Remus asked. Not that he thought Sirius wasn't a strong enough wizard, but there were few places in Britain that were deemed important enough to be made Unplottable and Remus was sure none of them were outside some strange little village in Somerset.

"No! I was gonna ask Lily, but Peter said he'd help and I knew I could trust him not to let you in on it. Lily would've blabbed the moment she saw you," Sirius smiled. "Her new best friend, aren't you?"

Remus frowned but ignored the good-natured comment about Lily, "I haven't seen Peter since last moon."

"I said I could _trust_ him not to tell you, I didn't say he'd _like_ the fact." Sirius pulled the map from the table and held it up in front of Remus. "So, will you come?"

"What?"

"I _told_ you, I wanna show you something!" Sirius put down the map and reached for Remus's hand.

"I've never Apparated from a map, Sirius!" Remus said, a slight panic in his voice.

"Yes you have."

"Only for my license and even then I nearly failed."

A grin spread across Sirius's face; the though of Remus failing anything obviously being an unlikely occurrence.

"Side-Along is much easier, Remus," Sirius coaxed.

"But-"

Sirius held up their entwined hands, "I've got you," he said simply, pulling Remus's wand from inside the werewolf's robes and placing it into his free hand. "Now, are you ready?"

Remus frowned, knowing that there was no point resisting Sirius when he was like this. Remus looked up and Sirius was kissing him gently before pulling away, a smile tugging on the dark haired man's lips, as he swished his wand.

Remus never liked using most forms of wizard transport. He attributed the fact to his mother who, though married to a wizard and living in his world, was a Muggle through and through. When he was a young child she would strap him into the seat attached to the back of her bicycle and they would be on their way; the wind ruffling his curls and the bike bumping along the uneven ground causing him to squeal in delight.

The first time he had used Floo powder at age nine he had vomited his breakfast all over his Aunt Lucreatia's four-hundred-year-old Egyptian rug, which a young Remus had been forbidden to even stand _near_ on previous visits. He had felt awful about it, but his father smiled mischievously at him when his Aunt had left the room levitating the ruined rug in front of her. The unpleasant incident had taught him to avoid food for at least an hour before Flooing.

Remus was pulled from his memories when his feet thudded onto a grassy knoll and he found himself momentarily unbalanced. He clenched his hand tightly around Sirius's to steady himself.

"You okay?" Sirius asked with concern.

"You know – "

"You don't travel well. I _know_," Sirius said. "But this couldn't wait."

The smile on Sirius's face caught Remus's attention and he turned his head to look in front of him.

There was a small dirt road worn into the grassy earth and on the other side was what appeared to be a dense thicket of trees – pines if Remus's memory served him well.

"Er, Sirius," he started uncertainly. He knew Sirius long enough to know it was quite possible that something about these trees might have caused the excitement. "You wanted to show me... a forest?"

Sirius sighed impatiently, "Close your eyes."

"Okay..." Remus warily obeyed and closed them tightly, hoping that soon all would be revealed.

He felt Sirius let go of his hand and turn him around to face the other way. There was a short pause and Remus could hear Sirius take a steadying breath.

"Here goes... You can open them now."

Remus's eyes took a second to adjust to the late afternoon sunlight. He reached his hand up to block the rays and saw a shape appearing out of the haze. To call it a house, well... a house had walls and doors and windows and, _sometimes_, even a roof. This "building" was like a half forgotten jigsaw of a house. The south side seemed to have tipped over an imaginary cliff; the walls that were still standing, leaned dangerously to the left and the front door looked badly warped from years of neglect and bad British weather.

"Emm..." Remus tried.

"What do you think?" Sirius interrupted. "I bought it last month."

The hand Remus was using to block the sun from his eyes fell over his mouth and he tried unsuccessfully to stifle an explosive bout of laughter.

"You _paid_ money for _that_?" Remus said, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

"It's not _that_ bad," Sirius defended, indignantly.

"How much were you swindled out of?"

"Not much. Emm... two hundred and fifty pounds," Sirius said, a little unsure of Muggle money, as he looked at the house.

Remus did a quick calculation in his head, "That's nearly fifty Galleons, Sirius!" Remus said in alarm. "What were you thinking?"

Sirius looked sheepishly at Remus, "Is it that much? Shit, I thought it was only twenty five." Sirius frowned for a moment obviously trying to figure out how he'd calculated it wrongly. Remus took the chance to look at the building again. Even if Sirius had paid twenty five Galleons it would still have been daylight robbery.

"Anyway," Sirius said a moment later, seemingly shaking off the realisation of how much he'd spent, "what do you think?"

"It's just a house, Sirius," Remus replied. "Or _was_, once upon a time."

Sirius looked at it again, "_Now!_ But it could be done up easily. I mean, a few weekends and it'll look brand new. I was thinking we could put in a second floor, have the bedroom up there, south facing to get the sun all day. And maybe a study or something. It's not too bad inside. There're still a few rooms that are fine."

"What are you talking about?" Remus asked. He had been watching Sirius for the last minute as he had talked enthusiastically about his plans and now grey eyes turned to meet Remus's.

"Stop acting dense, Moony! I _know_ you're smarter than that," Sirius took a step towards Remus. "I got it for us. It's our house!"

Remus raised his eyebrows in surprise and looked at the stone blocks again. A moment later he frowned. "You paid for it, Sirius. It's your house!"

Sirius let out a frustrated groan and Remus knew what he was thinking without even having to look at him. Remus insisted on paying his way, in everything. If they wanted to go to a concert or a play and Remus couldn't afford it out of his own vault, Sirius would come up with some suspiciously dubious event or holiday in order to present Remus with the, already paid for, ticket. Only last month they'd attended the Quidditch World Cup in celebration of Padfoot finally learning to lick his own privates. Remus had been a little dubious about how much he'd actually wanted to celebrate this, it could make him obsolete, after all.

"Fine!" Sirius huffed grabbing Remus by both his arms. "But it's our _home_! I got it for _us_. You and me, Remus, you and me!"

Remus looked back at Sirius and saw the utter determination in his eyes. Sometimes it scared Remus, how strongly Sirius felt for him, and he could never understand why. Remus needed Sirius, he knew that, but what did he possibly have to offer. Sirius obviously thought it was very important because he would often cling to Remus in his sleep. A book he once read described their relationship as co-dependent. Most times Remus could push it aside, make it into something to laugh about or work out the feelings in a more physical way, but when Sirius presented him with something like this...

"Look, I know it's not much right now," Sirius rationalised, taking Remus's hesitation to mean doubt, "but that flat I'm in is cramped and smelly and I _swear_ the last tenant had to be a troll because I can't get rid of that awful smell in the kitchen, and you _can't_ say you enjoy having to sneak home in the small hours every night so your parents don't worry about you." Sirius sighed, looking at the ramshackled building. "This place... it's _not_ much now, but we can do it up. We'd have privacy and there's a stone cottage in the back field that you can transform in – to be honest it's probably in better shape than the house – and the forest where we can run with Prongs and Wormtail."

Remus knew he had to interrupt, "You know I have to go to the containment centre."

"What! So they can treat you like an animal? I don't– "

"Sirius, you know it's policy that single werewolves spend full moon – "

"But you're _not_ single!" Sirius said in near desperation.

Remus felt Sirius's pain echoed in himself. He raised his hand and gently pressed it against Sirius's cheek. "I know I'm not, but the Ministry sees it differently. Even if I wasn't a werewolf, we'll never be... we'll never be Lily and James."

Sirius eyes seemed to cloud over with sadness. "I know," his head dropped and fell onto Remus's shoulder, and he wrapped his arms around him. "but..." Sirius's voice trailed off as his head rested against Remus's shoulder.

"What?"

"Sometimes... sometimes I wish we were," Sirius frowned to himself, lifting his head from Remus's shoulder.

Remus tried not to show the hurt churning in his stomach. "You do?"

"It's not..." Sirius stumbled slightly. "I mean, it's just, they have it so easy. Her family are delighted with James, for god knows what reason, and the Potters' are mad about Lily." Sirius ran a hand through his unruly hair. "They'll get married, have kids, be a _proper_ part of society. Right?" Finally he looked at Remus. "What will we be?"

Remus shrugged, "We'll be us," not really knowing what else to say.

"You're all I got, Remus," Sirius said, his eyes heavy with the invisible weight that seemed to be pulling at his shoulder. "I mean, you're all I want really. I – I love you," Sirius hesitated over the words. They were new to the relationship even if the feeling wasn't. "That's all that should matter... not all that other shite."

"You think about things too much, you know that?" Remus teased trying to lighten Sirius's mood. It didn't work.

"I can't help it," Sirius scowled, his annoyance bubbling back to the surface. "They just don't appreciate what they've got sometimes. I could _hate_ James for that. He worries about ..." a noise of exacerbation escaped Sirius's lips. "When I have to be careful not to sit too close to you in public just in case people get the wrong idea... or the _right_ idea," he scowled again, his eyebrows nearly touching now.

"We could go somewhere," Remus offered, trying to meet Sirius's eyes. "Somewhere it wouldn't be a problem."

"Where?" Sirius asked angrily.

"Amsterdam," Remus suggested. "Or San Francisco."

"_Sure_," Sirius bit at the idea. "Pack us all in together. Wouldn't want to contaminate all the nice _normal_ people. God forbid we might turn some innocent witch or wizard _queer,_" Sirius spat the word viciously from him like a baby throwing a rattle from a pram.

Remus frowned at the anger Sirius threw into such a simple word. Words had been tools to him over the years not weapons, but he knew that for Sirius it had been different. Although they had never really talked about his flight from Grimmauld Place Remus could imagine the events that had forced Sirius into action. Years of spiteful words and biting comments directed at him, at first for just being sorted into Gryffindor, and then... then for _being_ a Gryffindor. It was the worst thing Sirius could have done to his family, and there was a part of Remus, a part that he kept all to himself, where he used to go as a child to escape all the confusion and pain that seemed to dog him once a month and this part knew that Mrs Black had used _this_ word, this word that Sirius hated above all others, to finally drive her son and heir out of the Black house. Remus doubted she even knew how true it had been.

"You know I didn't mean it like that," Remus chided.

Sirius shook his head and pulled Remus closer, trying to grasp at the heat between them.

"Why don't you tell me about the house?" Remus asked after a moment, hoping the change of subject would also change Sirius's mood.

Sirius's head shot up. "Really?"

Remus sighed and exaggerated his begrudging acceptance.

For a few minutes Remus just listened as Sirius explained all his plans for the place; a second bedroom for guests, a large clawed bathtub in the bathroom, maybe a garden so Remus could grow his herbs and "other potion stuff."

"Come on, I'll show you the living room. There's a great place for your books," Sirius said without a hint of his usual irony and Remus found himself tugged by the hand to the front door.

Whatever enthusiasm Sirius had, started to ebb when the door wouldn't budge. He slammed his shoulder into it five times before Remus interrupted.

"For God's sake, just use your wand!"

"Can't," Sirius replied shortly. "It's not locked," he slammed into it again, "just jammed."

"We can just climb in over there," Remus offered, pointing to where the wall had almost completely collapsed.

"Oh no," Sirius said as he turned, rubbing his already throbbing arm. "I'll get this open. I have to carry you over the threshold. Make it official!"

"What? You are _not_ carrying me over the threshold!"

"Why not?"

"B-because..." Remus stuttered in disbelief, "because..."

"Lily and James would do it."

"That's different."

"Why?" Sirius challenged. "Because they're straight?"

"No!" Remus argued, "because they're practically married."

"No, they're not!"

"They will be if they keep shagging the way they are."

"So," Sirius teased, "if I get you pregnant I can do it?"

"You can't get me pregnant..." Remus argued back. A moment later he pulled back from Sirius, hands on hips. "And why do I have to be the girl!"

Sirius broke into a gale of laughter, "Ah come on, Remus. I wasn't trying to... to... nancyify you."

"Really? I'll carry _you_ over the threshold then."

"No way, Sirius Black does not get carried anywhere!"

"Well neither does Remus Lupin!"

They looked at each other for a few moments, both with smiles twitching on their lips. "What if we do it together?" Remus offered, his head indicating the door. "It can hardly stand up to two fully grown wizards pounding against it."

"Okay," Sirius said, "but I'm gonna switch sides. This arm is killing me already."

They lined up in front of the door, It suddenly seemed a lot larger to Remus, as they prepared to break it down.

"On the count of three. Okay?" Remus said. "One, two... Three!"

They both lunged forward. Remus braced for the impact against his shoulder. As they hit it, the door groaned and Remus heard a loud crack, but it did not open.

He pressed two hands against the wood and pushed it firmly. It scrapped against the door frame; obviously they were having some effect. "I think one more will do it."

"It better," Sirius frowned, now rubbing his other shoulder.

Remus smiled at him, "Come on, one more go."

"Hang on," Sirius groaned as he positioned his feet firmly on the ground. "Give me your arm."

"What for?"

"If we link them we can use ourselves as a battering ram."

Remus raised his eyebrows. "Lovely." They laced their arms together and stared fixedly into each others eyes.

"On three again?" Sirius asked. Remus nodded quickly while taking a steadying breath.

"One, Two... THREE!"

They crashed into the door which let out an almighty roar as it cracked right down the centre, sending the two tumbling into the filthy hallway. They fell heavily, dislodging years of grit and grime and sending dust flying into the air. Sirius started coughing erratically while Remus covered his mouth with the sleeve of his robes to stop the flying particles from going up his nose and down his throat. He was almost afraid to open his eyes in case he was blinded. It was only when Sirius's coughing subsided that Remus cracked his eyelids open to look over at him.

"You okay?" Sirius asked in a raspy voice. Remus nodded unconvincingly. Sirius propped himself up on his elbow and looked around the hallway. It was unimpressive at best, downright depressing at worst. "What would Uncle Alphard say?" he seemed to ask the house before turning his attentions to the man laid out below him. "It will look better, I promise."

"I know," Remus replied as he rolled onto his back finally taking in a proper breath.

"So you'll stay with me. I mean, you want to live here. Live together?"

Remus turned his head and looked up at Sirius. His grey eyes were filled with such nervousness, even now, after all they had been through together – and they'd barely just left school.

"Where else?" Remus asked, a comforting smile playing on his lips.

Sirius's face suddenly became so thankful, so relieved that Remus almost didn't notice Sirius bending down to kiss him until their lips met. He could feel the slight wetness of Sirius mouth against his and the feel of grit which now covered the two of them.

"I love you, Remus," Sirius whispered in his ear as he pulled away.

Remus stared at his face, half hidden in the shadows of the house, his hair stained grey by the dirt of the hallway. He looked delicious.

Remus reached his hand up and gently pulled a length of Sirius's hair. "I hope you plan on putting in a shower."

"I plan on doing a lot of things," Sirius replied as he kissed Remus again. "At least I solved one problem."

Remus frowned in question.

"I got you over the threshold, didn't I?" Sirius smiled.

Remus looked down at his feet which were just sticking out of the door. "Not quite," he teased. "But there are plenty of other nice Muggle customs we could try out... like getting a head start on christening this place."

"Really?" Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"Hmmm," Remus answered as he pulled Sirius towards him again.

Author's Note: Thanks to all who've read, please review. I wrote this almost a year ago and I'm working hard on the next part in the Full Moon series which follows on directly from this one-shot. It's working out to be the longest fic I'll have written so far and is taking a lot of planning but please keep an eye out for it when it's published under the title _The Art of Living._


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